Mahama Dashes To Niger

President John Dramani Mahama dashed to Niamey, the capital of Niger yesterday.

He returned home later in the day after co-chairing a meeting with Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou.

This was his sixth trip outside Ghana since the beginning of the year 2015.

At yesterday’s meeting in Niamey, the two presidents received the report of the taskforce set up to review the roadmap for a single currency in the West African sub-region slated for 2020.

ECOWAS has been criticized for its frequent postponement of the deadline for the adoption of a single currency. The deadline has been postponed six consecutive times because member states have been unable to meet the set criteria.

The first date was the year 2000; it was postponed to 2005, then 2010, 2014, 2015 and now 2020.

The primary criteria for West African states to achieve the single currency are; single digit inflation rate at the end of each year; a fiscal deficit of not more than 4 per cent of the GDP, central bank deficit financing of not more than 10 per cent of the previous year’s tax revenues and having gross external reserves that can give a country import cover for a minimum of three months.